Right Hand Man
by Marauder-In-Disguise
Summary: Set during 'Equinox' - Chakotay considers the ultimate betrayal...


**Disclaimer: I own nothing, Paramount are the almighty overlords of all things Trek...**

Chakotay paced his quarters, used by now to the frequent shudders that rocked the ship and rolling with them, thus staying on his feet. She'd relieved him of duty. The captain. They'd had their disagreements in the past but nothing like this. Nothing to this extent. The most that she had ever done was put a note in her logs that he had disagreed and chewed him out a little bit. He could take being talked down to because that was her job. Ultimately the decision was hers, but this time she hadn't even listened to him, hadn't even really considered another course of action. She'd confined him to quarters as easily as she made the decision to leave Lessing in the cargo bay.

He glanced at his jacket and shirt he had thrown over the chair in disgust; without the rank insignia that she had practically ripped from his collar, they looked bare. He'd earned that rank bar over the years and it hurt to have it taken away when he knew that he was right. She knew he was right. The mad, dangerous look in her eyes when she shut Lessing in the cargo bay with the alien had terrified Chakotay but he knew her well enough to know that she had, just for a second, hesitated. She knew what she was doing was wrong but the betrayal of Ransom had shaken her. Chakotay knew about betrayal. He imagined that she was feeling as he had done the day that he got the letter from home telling him that the Maquis had been betrayed by someone they thought was a friend. He understood that she wanted to do everything in her power to make Ransom pay, to make him hurt like she was hurting because he had felt exactly the same. The difference, however, was that she had the opportunity to do something about it. And, spirits, was she doing it.

Chakotay heard a team of engineers run past, shouting something about a shield fracture but they sounded oddly distant. He stopped pacing and ordered a Vulcan tea Tuvok had introduced him to from the replicator. It was supposed to have calming effects and, he rationalized, someone had to be calm at this point. Thinking about the Maquis had only stirred up feelings that he didn't need interfering at the moment. It was hard enough to try and think of something productive to do without the ghosts of friends from a lifetime before coming to bother him. There would be time for anger later, when he could rage and destroy anything he wanted on the holodeck. That was if there was still a holodeck left in a few hours; Captain Janeway was playing a dangerous game and if she wasn't careful, she'd kill every single person on the ship.

Inhaling the steam from the tea, Chakotay took careful stock of the situation. The captain was acting irrationally. The only real line of defence, himself, had been removed and disallowed contact with all of his shipmates. _Voyager _was falling apart around them and no one could do anything to stop it whilst the captain continued to act in such a way. As far as Chakotay could tell, there was only one real option. He toyed with it gently in his head. It really was a last resort. He'd probably lose his position permanently and spend the rest of the journey confined to his quarters if he was lucky and the brig if he wasn't but it was worth it if he could save the lives of the crews of _Voyager _and the _Equinox. _He could see that what the crew of the _Equinox _had done was wrong but Starfleet wasn't so fully reintegrated in his mind that he would justify their deaths over a breach of the Prime Directive twelve times over. They should be punished but they shouldn't die for it. He only had the one option.

A mutiny.

Only for long enough to sort this mess out, then the captain could have command back and she could do whatever she wanted to him. He tried to decide how to go about it, suddenly remembering with a jolt that the two security guards posted outside his door were ex Maquis. The crew had become so integrated that he didn't even think of people as either Starfleet or Maquis anymore. Evidently, judging from the posting outside his door, the captain didn't think about it either. He hesitated for a moment, absently stroking the comm badge still attached to his jacket. It would be a betrayal but no more than the actions of the captain over the last few days. If he was to judge from the reactions of the bridge crew to her erratic behaviour, a lot of the Starfleet crew would be on his side as well. The worry on Harry and Tom's faces when they dared to glance at one another told him that much. It wouldn't be so hard. He just needed the attention of the two outside his door and then –

A soft beep from the panel to his left distracted him for a moment. The captain had taken all lines of communication to his room off line and forbidden everyone in the crew to contact him. Harry was monitoring internal communications from the bridge to make sure that no one talked to him. The beeping grew more persistent and he leaned across to tap the panel. It was no surprise when the face of B'Elanna filled the small screen.

"I can't talk for long, Chakotay. Tuvok's only gone for a couple of minutes."

"B'Elanna, how are you-?"

"You think I don't know how to hotwire a comm channel, Chakotay?" The scorn in her voice was evident.

"Harry's supposed to be monitoring. What's going on up there?"

"Let's just say that Harry agreed to turn a blind eye for a couple of minutes."

Chakotay's eyebrows shot up. By – the – book Harry Kim, turning a blind eye?

"He's scared, Chakotay," B'Elanna shrugged, "We all are, to be honest."

As if to illustrate her point, the room behind her was suddenly bathed in red light.

"What do you want, B'Elanna?"

"I just want to tell you that...that if you want something to happen, I'm on this side of the door."

"Are you talking about mutiny?" he asked, fully knowing that she meant exactly that.

"Yes. Just give me the word, Chakotay, and we can make this happen."

"Do you know how much trouble we could get in if we staged a mutiny, B'Elanna?"

"Yes but I'd rather spend the rest of this trip in my room than have this blood on my hands. You don't sell people out, Chakotay, whatever they've done. Ransom made some mistakes but if I was in the same position, I might have made them as well. The captain is out of line; you know that, I know that – hell, even Tuvok knows that."

"B'Elanna," Chakotay managed to choke through the bile that was rising in his throat, "I appreciate the risk you've put yourself at but I'm not going to lead a mutiny. No one is."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because that would be crossing the line. I'm not prepared to take that step. A few minutes ago I was but it would be wrong."

"The captain is crossing the line, Chakotay! If we wait much longer, there won't be a chance in hell of stopping her."

"I know B'Elanna but we have to trust her. We have to trust that she has a plan to get us out of this. She has never let us down before and I'm prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt."

B'Elanna cursed darkly and slammed her hands down on the console, "Benefit of the doubt? She's relieved you of duty and thrown you into solitary confinement, Chakotay! She's gone too far."

"Please, B'Elanna," he pleaded softly, "I can't order you anymore but I'm asking you, as a friend, to trust me on this. It will be OK. We don't need to do this."

B'Elanna carried on muttering but Chakotay recognised all the signs that he had won. Her shoulders slumped and she nodded slowly.

"Fine. I'll do it because I trust you but if something goes wrong, I'm blaming you as much as I blame her."

"That's fine. Spread the word please. No mutinies today."

He tried to smile but she didn't return the sentiment.

"Yeah."

And she was gone. Chakotay melted against the back of the chair. Hearing B'Elanna actually say it was all he needed to give him a kick in the right direction. She trusted him and looked to him for guidance and leadership. He had a duty to show B'Elanna where the line was and, he reflected, maybe the captain had a duty to show him the line too. He may not agree with her but he trusted her and he needed to let her do what she thought best, just like B'Elanna did with him. It was her decision in the end and she would have to live with the result of it. It may hurt the rest of them for a while but, in the end, they would forget. She would be the one awake at night thinking about every second and trying to pinpoint where it went wrong. He wouldn't wish that amount of guilt on anyone, least of all Kathryn, but he had to let her live with the consequences of her decision, positive or otherwise. He could protect her from a lot of things – like a mutiny by her crew or even just the pain of knowing how close they came to staging that mutiny – but he couldn't protect her from herself. That was something that she had to try and handle on her own. She would make her choice and they would live with it either way, knowing that they weren't suffering as much as she was. He would be there when she opened his door and handed back his rank bar and he would protect her from the looks and comments of the crew, but at least they would be a crew that had remained loyal through the worst crisis of her leadership career and come out the other side relatively unharmed. He would protect her because that was his job and also because he knew that no one could punish her like she would punish herself.

He lay back on the couch and closed his eyes. There was little he could do now except wait. B'Elanna would handle things from the outside, as his loyal right hand man, and he could rest easily in the knowledge that whilst he may be many things, he hadn't betrayed his captain. He was still _her _loyal right hand man, who'd take a phaser to the chest if he thought he could save her life. He was angry but that was his own problem and he would handle it in his own way, just like she would have to handle the decision she made over the _Equinox._ A sudden, fiercer shudder forced his eyes open a little. He just hoped that she wouldn't pay too heavily.


End file.
